The business world is notorious for ignoring one of the best ways to keep writing readable: short sentences.

Take this fictional, yet typical, opening sentence of a press release:

“Anycompany, a leading developer of best-in-class hardware solutions for business-to-business supply-chain optimisation, today announced a strategic partnership with leading retail systems integration consultancy Anyconsultancy to provide tailored supply-chain solutions for the retail sector.”

At 39 words, it far exceeds the ‘easy readability’ threshold for sentence length. Who wants all those words? The reader? No. the writer of the release wants to make sure that their favourite ‘corporate descriptors’ are included. So they do. All in one sentence.

It doesn’t have to be like this. The minimalist approach removes the unnecessary descriptors — the jargon — or hides them at the end of the release where they can do no harm. Instead, it highlights the most interesting part of story, grabbing the reader’s attention in one short sentence:

“Anycompany has signed a deal with Anyconsultancy to provide retailers with new ways to manage their supply chain.”

It is ironic that the stuff we most want our potential customers to understand — new business letters, brochures, press releases — are the things they least want to read. Keeping sentences short makes your writing more effective.